Sarah Frances Gates Sully died at her home in Galveston, Texas, surrounded by her family, on Friday, June 10, 2011 following a relatively short struggle with cancer.  Her ashes will be interred in the family plot in Green Lawn Cemetery in Hammond, Louisiana.

She was born on February 22, 1947 in New Orleans, Louisiana, eldest daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Richard Gates of Gulfport, Mississippi. She grew up in Long Beach on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and after education at Margaret Hall in Versailles, Kentucky and at Newcomb College at Tulane University in New Orleans she ultimately became a Registered Nurse.  She practiced nursing in Gulfport, Mississippi and later in Metairie, Louisiana. She was greatly interested in family genealogy and American, English and European history, loved gardens and gardening and old houses, and worked with several animal rescue groups.

She is survived by husband Patrick, sisters Mrs. Elizabeth Applin of Willseyville, New York  and Mrs. Mary Dautel of Spokane, Washington, daughter Elizabeth Duncan and son-in-law Ray and granddaughters Catherine and Frances, of Devine, Texas, and son Michael Gates and daughter-in-law Dawn and grandsons JeanLuc and Sterling, of Phoenix, Arizona.

No date is presently set for the ceremony in Hammond and arrangements are pending for a commemoration in Galveston.